Tips from Jesse Hamm

Somewhere out there are people who need to hear a story you're uniquely able to tell. Art by others, even better art, won't do; only yours.

“I used to hate the water.”

The Primacy Effect can be misused or overused. Many recent films begin during a key scene in the story's middle, followed by a title card: "Four days ago..." This can be frustrating and gimmicky. Avoid this by finding key moments that fit the story's *beginning*, as seen in JAWS.

You can see this effect in many popular films. We first meet Indiana Jones when he is raiding a temple and fleeing a boulder, not when he is teaching. We first meet James Bond when he is on a mission, not when he's receiving orders for the story at hand. Those first images stick.

This is due to the Primacy Effect, which means that the first items on a list (or scenes in a story) are stored in long term memory moreso than later items. The Primacy Effect is especially strong regarding visual items, such as in visual narrative. Use it to cement key ideas.

If you need readers to remember a key detail or aspect of your story, consider placing it in the first scene. In JAWS, we don't see the town or meet the heroes in the first scene; we instead see Jaws attack a swimming girl. This permanently defines our memories of the film.

Ssseeeecretsssss!

When using the perspective tool, lock your background layer (here: the "white fill" layer in Image 1). Otherwise, when you delete the perspective tool, you may end up on the background layer (Image 2), and might resume inking there without realizing you've left your line layer.

(You can use this approach for full circles as well, but it may take more tries to get a fast circle whose ends meet nicely.)

Drawing it quickly gives you a smoother, more dynamic line than drawing it slowly/carefully. Drawing on a new layer allows you to adjust it and erase the excess without interfering with your other lines. Avoiding the ellipse/circle tool is faster and looks more organic. (2/2)

Drawing a round object? *add a new layer *freehand the object quickly on the new layer *use the transform tool to adjust the object into the desired shape *erase the overlapping lines *merge the layers. (1/2)

How to establish the correct speaking order when the first speaker is on the right:

Finally, he returns to a low angle, emphasizing the bikers' dominance. Evidence of their murder (the boy's shoe and ball) tumbles into frame, bloodlessly revealing the boy's presumably bloody death. MAD MAX was condemned for its violence, but almost no gore appears onscreen.

Later, when showing both the hunters and their quarry in the same shot, he remains above her eye-level, but the bikers appear to loom over her because of their position in the frame. A higher angle would diminish both the woman and the bikers, but this angle diminishes her alone.

A simple lesson in viewing angles, from George Miller's MAD MAX. In the first shot, the mother and infant son are shown from above, emphasizing their weakness. But when Miller cuts to their pursuers, he adopts a low angle, to make them loom up and appear more threatening.

Remember that creases in clothing generally swing away from points where bones are most prominent: shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. And here are a couple more tips: teapaw.org/Hamm_Tips/status/13313… teapaw.org/Hamm_Tips/status/98324…